GLEANINGS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6313, 13 September 1907, Page 3

GLEANINGS

The Kaupokonui Dairy Company has refused sjd for its cheese output. Mr Paul Hunter, of Hawke's Bay, realised the following prices for pure-bred Jerseys sold by auction at Stratford on Tuesday Clarabelle’s Magnet, (a son of Magnet Bov), 21gis; Oculist. 28gs; Rose's Boy, 17gs;' Marguerite 11. (2-year heifer), 27g's; yearling heifer, 20ge. For some years past two Wangnehu farmers have been deriving a nice little income from growing cabbages and cauliflowers. The plants are planted out in February, and are ready to cut bv midwinter, when they are sent to Wellington, and realise a very payable price. Recently the children attending one of the country schools were told to write an cosav on farm life. One little fellow wrote that work on a farm was very hard, and made his father so tired that he often had to go to bed when he came home. Then, as an . after-thought, he added. “ especially on sale days." Young lambs may be seen frisking about in nearly every paddock along the railway lino in the Wairarapa (says the “ Express''). Strange to cay, however, very'. few instances are noticed of twin lambs. Coming to the Forty-mile Bush things are different. A traveller by the train on Friday noticed no fewer than four sets of triplet lambs between .Kopnnranga .and Ekotabuna. A championship well worth wearing a swelled head over. On a farm at Wigtoft Fen, -Mr .Thomas Rowlinson. of Swineshead, Baythorpe, “ riddled " 1 weiity-five tons ' of potatoes in five hours and ten minutes. To " riddle" potatoes is to separate small and saleable sizes. This feat excited great interest in Lincolnshire, and won for Mr Rowlinson a prize of iilO in money and the title of “ champion riddler." Levin Co-operative Dairy Company held a crowded meeting of shareholders in Hudson and Easthers Hall last Monday forenoon (says an exchange). Evidently the fiery cross had gone round. The meeting was a somewhat lively one; We don't know if it could be considered elevating. There was lots of sarcasm, in speech and side-thrust, and a good deal of time wasted on a legal point having reference to the retirement of members of the board. In the course of some experiments conducted by the Ontario Agricultural College last year, it would appear that the yield of marketable cheese is slightly greater from the use of rennet as compared wiih pepsin for coagulating milk. The quality of the cheese was similar in both cases. Moreover, owing to the greater difficulty in preparing the pepsin for the addition to milk, it cannot bo recommended in preference to rennet. The report and balonco-sheot of the Taratai Co-operative Dairy Company shows that the milk received for the past season amounted to 2,874,7731 b. This produced 111,1651 b of butter-fat. making

127,104-lb of commercial hotter. Tho average tost was 3.6. There was a balance of .£262 17s on the year’s working, and it was proposed, to distribute thw amount by paying 5 per cent, on share capital and a bonus of 0-20 d per lb of butter-fat supplier!, making tho total payment to suppliers 9 2-5 d per lb for butter-fat. it is reported that the Awahuri Cooperative Dairy Company has decided to consign the whole of tho corning season’s output of butter. Mr A. Buchanan, tho well-known Jersey bleeder of Palmerston, says there is still an unsatisfied demand for Jerseys from Taranaki, though very good prices are still being obtained. It will be remembered that quite recently there was a considerable amount of correspondence in the Wairarapa over the classes of milk best suited lor chf<vv: making purposes. Some writers condemned Jerseys as giving too neh a milk. However, h Jersey breeder in Palmerston states that has been conclusively proved, both in America aim England, that the richer the milk is, ns a rule, tho more solid* it contain*, and the more and better cheese is to hr got from it. The only proviso in th case is that the temperature used for curing must be low. There is a famous cow belonging to Mr J. Wilkins, hoi-s r -breaker. of Bretford, England, concerning which the owner states, and with good reason, that she doe* not owe him anything. Her age is supposed to be about twentythree vears. She was bougiit for Mr ’• kin* in Kugby market as a down calver when about two and a half years old, and although she ha.s produced no fewer than 18 calves, her owner quite expects to the total brought up to -a score. Between the seventeenth and eighteenth calf she wa* milked two years in Sticcession, and at the present time i* giv- j ihg about five gallons per day on ordin- ; arv rations —uo forcing—of good rich milk. Tho old lady is still very active. : and her tooth are good, although worn down to mere stumps. Her colour is red, and the breed is apparently Short , horn, with a strain of something else. Whatever it its, the result is remarkable, and probably creates a record. The number of calvee a cow may be expected to prcduce averages from eight to twenc ‘'Polly,” as may be supposed, is quite a family pet. To the sheep-owner knowledge as ■ to whether sheep are dry enough to shear is a matter of great moment. A scientific instrument maker, of Melbourne, has invented an apparatus called "the ringer, which is designed to test the dryness of wool, and thus show whether sheep are fit for shearing. A trial of the invention was made tho other day in the presence of a number of representative gentlemen. Several sheep suspected of being too wet to shear wore penned, and samples of wool were taken from them. The test, however, showed that the wool was drv, and that the sheep were fit for shearing. Water was then thrown upon some of the wool, and tho apparatus indicated exactly the quantity of water applied to the wool. "The ringer” consists of a small press within a tube. A sample of wool weighing half an ounce is taken from the wettest part of the sheep—under the shoulder —placed in the tube, and a pressure of four and a half tons to the square inch applied by means of a small screw-press. The pressure forces all moisture into a glass indicator. If less than 15 deg. are shown on the indicator the- sheep is dry enough to shear. Wool showing from 15 deg. to 20 deg. of water is regarded as "doubtful.” If it shows over 20 deg. the sheep should not be shorn. The apparatus is of steel, nickel-plated, and of handy size for carrying about among tho sheep.